


And the World Shone a Little Brighter

by thefirstneonphoenix



Category: Teen Titans - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, M/M, what of it, yeah I wrote another DickJoey fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-14
Updated: 2021-01-14
Packaged: 2021-03-18 13:02:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,246
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28743678
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thefirstneonphoenix/pseuds/thefirstneonphoenix
Summary: It's a DickJoey soulmate fic. If this is your first rodeo, I'm honored that you're experiencing it with me. But if you're in this tag, it probably isn't your first rodeo, and I'm gonna spare you the explanation.
Relationships: Dick Grayson/Joseph Wilson
Comments: 5
Kudos: 22





	And the World Shone a Little Brighter

**Author's Note:**

> I may have a problem.

Dick’s skin had never had words. His parents did, and everyone else at the circus had an inscription somewhere. Even Bruce and Alfred had had words. To Dick, and to everyone who ever met him, it never quite seemed fair that he didn’t. He’d long since lost track of the number of pitying looks he had received. He remembered once overhearing the other performers whispering about how terrible it was that such a lively young boy lacked a soulmate. One declared that it was just as well, considering his fate. Dick didn’t know what his fate was. When he asked his mother about it, she just smiled and said, “Anything you want it to be, my little robin. Anything at all.”

She described meeting his father as the most vivid moment of her life, to her, it was more than just hearing the words tattooed by nature onto her skin, it was as if, for just a moment, all was right in the world. The colors shown a little brighter, the air became that much fresher, and it was as if everything else in the world faded away for just a moment.

When he was younger, before his parents death, he had checked himself over every morning to see if words ever appeared. They were supposed to show themselves at birth, but more often than not they appeared in the week following. On rare occasions, the words didn’t appear until much later on in life, but some people just never got them. With every passing year, it became less and less likely for his words to ever develop.

After his parents died, he stopped looking for them entirely. Then he met Barbara Gordon and was convinced she was his soulmate. After all, when he met her, he could imagine that the world shown a little bit brighter. But she had her own words, and other passions in life to pursue. When Kori fell to Earth, Dick thought she might be his soulmate too. Every time she moved, it was like fire glanced off her skin and into the air. But he eventually came to realize that Kori was just like that, and it wasn’t a special magic connection between the two of them. A part of Dick still held out hope that he would one day meet someone, but an increasingly overwhelming part of him felt that he had other things to focus on.

So he threw himself into any work he could: Being Robin, leading the Titans, attending school. His life became a balancing act of completing all the work he had taken on perfectly while simultaneously maintaining relationships with his friends and family. Eventually things would fall apart, and, if he was being honest with himself, they had already begun to do so. But the carpet hadn’t been pulled out from under his feet just yet, so he kept on. Dick lost himself in his responsibilities and only contemplated his lack of a soulmate in the rare event that someone asked him about it, or made an off-hand remark regarding it.

The day came when he realized that he could no longer be Robin, and his carefully constructed balance shattered. He retreated to his friends in New York, away from Gotham and any reminder of Bruce. It would seem his fate had revolved around superheroing, because no sooner than he had laid down Robin, it seemed that the Titans were in desperate need of his assistance. He conceded to himself that he might need to call in Batman, or preferably some other member of the Justice League. A woman and her son had arrived at the tower however, claiming that they could help him.

He found them both to be quite strange, and was wary of trusting them. All in all though, their appearance was not entirely out of the ordinary, in fact, it was practically a run of the mill day with the Titans, even if the stakes were slightly higher than usual, and even with the accusations of Terra’s seemingly unthinkable betrayal. There seemed to be little of note to the woman. She reminded Dick just a bit of Talia al Ghul, but he didn’t have nearly enough experience with either one of them to draw that as a firm conclusion. The man on the other hand… There was something strange about him. He was, objectively, the most handsome man Dick had ever seen. Purely from an observational standpoint, of course. 

The man was staring at him though, and in a weird way. It made Dick feel something, he didn't know exactly what, and he suddenly found himself very concerned about what the man’s opinion of him might be.

“What are you looking at, Mister? If you don’t like what you see, speak up.”

The man’s eyes widened at his words, and he looked a bit taken aback. His eyes were the most radiant green Dick had ever seen, and as his blond curls fell loosely about his face, Dick couldn’t help but feel in awe of the person standing before him. The world around him shone brilliantly as the image engraved itself in his mind.

“Joseph cannot speak. He’s mute, thanks to his father.” Adeline explained, distantly, somewhere far away from their bubble, barely penetrating Dick’s thoughts.

Mute… so his soulmate probably didn’t have words anywhere. Dick suddenly felt very pitiful of whoever Joseph’s soulmate might be. They probably believed themselves to be soulmateless, just like him. Just like him. That was a thought. Maybe he had a soulmate, just one that was mute. Just like Joseph. He found himself inexplicably wishing that Joseph were his soulmate.

Adeline continued explaining, and it was only thanks to Batman’s training that Dick was able to focus on it at all. Meanwhile, he continued to mule over whatever had just transpired, wondering if it was some kind of ruse meant to lull him into security. He carefully turned over the facts in his head, and began making the connections between them. Everything he had ever been told about soulmates was at the forefront of his mind. Abruptly, he figured it out, and time came to a screeching halt around him. He turned to Joey and asked, 

“I know this may be a little personal, but can you tell me what your words are?”

Adeline grinned wolfishly. “I see you’ve figured it out. Yes, the words you first spoke to my son are the ones engraved on his skin, and you have no words because he cannot speak to you.”

“Wow,” Dick breathed, “I always assumed I was soulmateless.”

“No, you’re not,” Joseph signed to him, “Call me Joey, please.” For the first time in a while, Dick held positive feelings towards Bruce, for making him learn ASL. He made a mental note to brush up on it nonetheless.

Joey continued, smiling, “I always thought that my soulmate would never recognize me because I was mute, and was afraid that I would never know them because of it.”

“I guess we’re here now despite it,” Dick replied, not a small amount of wonder filing him at it all. 

“As lovely as this all is boys, and congratulations by the way,” Adeline interrupted, “You’re friends remain in need of saving, and I suggest you get to it, Richard.”

Yes, his friends needed saving. He had found his soulmate, and as much as he desired to get to know him, that would have to wait for later. 


End file.
